Larval dispersal of Brachyura in one of the largest estuarine/marine systems in the world

The Amazon Continental Shelf (ACS) is a complex habitat that receives a large annual freshwater discharge into the ocean, producing a superficial plume and carrying with it large amounts of nutrients to the continental shelf along thousands of kilometers while sustaining high biodiversity in the estuary–ocean continuum. For the first time, this study monitored six sites in a wide transect with approximately 240 km radius on the ACS every 2–4 months. The objectives were (1) to analyze the composition of larval Brachyuran crabs and (2) to predict the importance of environmental parameters (temperature, salinity and chlorophyll-a) in structuring their abundance. A total of 17,759 larvae identified were distributed in 8 families and 24 taxa. The water salinity was the best predictor of larval distribution. The statistical models used indicated that Panopeidae and Portunidae larvae are more frequent and more likely to occur in shallow water layers, while Calappidae occur in deeper layers, and Grapsidae, Ocypodidae, Sesarmidae, Pinnotheridae and Leucosiidae occur similarly in both strata. The larval dispersal extent varies among families and throughout the year while the groups are distributed in different salinities along the platform. The probability of occurrence of Portunidae is higher in ocean water (≥ 33.5); Grapsidae, Panopeidae, and Pinnotheridae is higher in intermediate and ocean salinity waters (25.5 to 33.5); Ocypodidae, Sesarmidae and Calappidae is higher in estuarine and intermediate salinity waters (5 to 25.5), whereas Leucosiidae, euryhaline, occur in all salinities (5 to 33.5). Furthermore, the Amazon River seasonal flow and plume movement throughout the year not only regulate the larval distribution and dispersion of estuarine species but are also fundamental for the ACS species, providing the necessary nutrient input for larval development in the region.

Lines 99 -103: I suggest restructuring of this sentence. It might be useful to break it up into (1) parameters of larval composition/distribution and (2) how these relate to environmental profiles. The current organization is a bit convoluted.
Line 104: The "aquatic food chain" is an oversimplification. Consider using "food web" or "trophic interactions" instead.
Line 108: I'm not sure what is meant by "…should be distributed on their parental populations…" Are you expecting close proximity to parental populations? Given the common export strategy of estuarine crabs, would this be likely for all Brachyuran crabs in the region?

Methods
Lines 115 -116: "July/2013 to January/2015" should be "July 2013 to January 2015" Line 131: "haulsin" should be "hauls in" Lines 154 -155: The density unit should have not a period after larvae, and the sentence could be restructured for clarity, e.g. "Density (larvae m -3 ) was estimated by dividing Brachyuran larval abundance by the volume filtered through the plankton net." Line 161: "…of each species larvae…" should be "…of each larval species…" or "…of each species of larvae" Line 200: Citation(s) to support that this threshold is "widely used"?

Results
Line 208 and 212: Replace "amplitude" with "range" Line 209: The parenthetical "begin" should be "beginning" in both occurrences here.
Line 217: Remove the "/" between month and year Line 248: Add "and" before Pinnixa Line 285 -297: I think that the seasonal plume analysis discussed here is important. However, this section requires visual, model, and/or statistical support. Figure 6 and 7 are referenced in this paragraph but these were not included in the submission. In addition, several of the statements made cannot be supported by Table 1 or Figs. 3 -5, which do not include seasonal information.

Discussion
Lines 301 -303: To make this statement, more support is needed in the results section (see previous comment regarding lines 285 -297).
Line 311: Should be "Brachyuran larvae" Lines 320 -323: Where are the model results that support this statement?
Line 470: Remove "Anyway" Line 515: Is "particular" the best word here?
Line 531: Why change the subtitle structure at this point? All others list the family only.
Line 561: Same as abovewhy alter the subtitle structure? Line 563: "larval" before zoea is a bit redundant Line 585: Either add a semicolon after "…(Herbst, 1803)" or start a new sentence, i.e. "The latter is…" The structure of species name reporting also switches to parentheticals here: "Calappa gallus (Herbst, 1803)" rather than the previous "Calappa sulcata Rathbun, 1898". For consistency, use the same format throughout.
Line 661: "And" should not be capitalized.

Table and Figures
Table 1 only shows the frequency of occurrence for one month/year for each group. Based on the supplemental figures, I assume this is the timepoint with the highest density for each individual taxon. If so, indicate this in the table caption. I also suggest characterizing the colors of the heat map described, i.e. frequency of occurrence increases in order of white, light gray, dark gray, and black. Also, "S" is used as an abbreviation for salinity and for sub-superficial sample. Perhaps, it would be clearer to change the latter to "SS". Fig. 1 caption: It would be useful to identify that the distances listed are kilometers offshore, e.g. "…(23 km, 53 km, 83 km, 158 km, 198 km, and 233 km offshore)." Figs. 3 -5: More information is needed in the caption, which could also be accomplished by adding a legend. For example, what do the different colors representdifferent models? Do the shaded regions around each trendline indicate a confidence interval of some sort? Are the y-axis values shown expected abundance per some unit of volume? The methods state that the "final prediction for the expected abundance of each group is given by the product between its predicted abundance and the PO in the reference scenario". However, the notation in the y-axis label indicates that you are showing a ratio of predicted abundance / PO, rather than the product.

Supporting information
S9 and S10 were not referenced in the text.